A Little More Thought
by b-wolf95
Summary: It's the day of the press conference and Judy is naturally nervous. Now we all know how well it went in canon. But what if Judy put a little more thought into what she's saying? Will it change a lot? Yes, it would.
1. A Little More Tact

A/N: This is a repost of a story I have on AO3. I'm putting it here mainly to get a feel of how posting a story on here works. Hope you like it!

Disclamer: Zootopia belongs to Disney, not me. Disclamer done. GO!

* * *

The ZPD was full of activity that day. That's not to say the station wasn't always busy. There were always officers being deployed or criminals being taken in. It was just that there was a press conference going on that day, and everyone wanted in that story. Of course, only reporters were allowed to attend, but that didn't stop every average joe with a social media account from trying to force their way in. Many of the larger officers were place on guard duty for this very reason, and even then a few of the smaller members of the mob snuck in amidst the chaos. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that this was a big scoop.

After all, it's not every day that a bunny finds 14 missing mammals.

Our hero for the day, Judy Hopps, was currently not on stage, but rather just off to the side of it. Chief Bogo had taken the stage first for a bit of a prologue to her part, mostly just some official stuff. Judy didn't really care to listen to his speech right now. She was currently having to deal with the fact that all her police training and the adventure she just finished did nothing to prepare her for what would be her greatest obstacle: a swarm of reporters whose job it is to scrutinize her every word. Fortunately, she had some moral support.

Nick only needed one look to see the problem. "Nervous?"

Judy nodded. "Is it that obvious?"

"You could water Sahara Square with your sweat."

"Sorry, it just I don't want to look like a dumb bunny in front of all of Zootopia."

"Okay, press conference 101: You wanna look smart? Answer their question with your own question and then answer that question. Like this, 'Excuse me. Officer Hopps, what can you tell us about the case?' 'Well, was this a tough case? Yes. Yes it was.' You see?"

This helped, but Judy still had some hang-ups. "You should be there with me. We did this together."

"Well, am I a cop? No. No, I am not."

Judy smiled. "Funny you should say that, because I've been thinking... it would be nice to have a partner." With that, she gave Nick a paper. Anyone who could hear them didn't need to look at it to know that it was an application paper for the ZDP. She also gave him the carrot pen that brought them together in the first place. "In case you need something to write with," she claimed.

With that, Bogo was almost done with his speech, so it was time for Judy to go, leaving Nick by himself. If Nick was his old self, he would of scoff at the offer and threw the paper away. But he was a changed fox now. He was beginning to see that you can live outside of what others expect of you. And it was all thanks to Judy. She was able to see past his species and see him for what he was. So to be given this opportunity to complete his heel-face turn, it meant a lot to him. But now wasn't the time for sentimentality. Judy had a press conference to do, and Nick was going to cheer her on.

A deer was up first. "What can you tell us about the animals that went savage?"

Judy took a barely noticeable pause before pause before responding with, "Are they all different species? Yes. Yes they are."

Not the most natural wording, but it's a start.

Up next was a koala. "Okay, so what is the connection?"

"Well, all we know is that they are all members of the predator family."

Now it was an aardvark's turn. "So, predators are the only ones going savage?"

Judy took another pause, but this time not for forced wording. "…As of right now, yes, but that doesn't mean it won't happen to prey as well."

Those of you who are familiar with the events leading up to this moment might be saying to yourself, "Isn't this scene supposed to take a different direction?" Technically, yes, the story as you know it goes differently. However, this is not that story. This is a story of how a small change can have a big impact.

In this case, how a bunny putting a little more thought into what she's saying can affect the feelings of a fox and the plans of a sheep.

Back to the press conference, the koala from before was asking another question. "What makes you say that?"

"Because whatever's happening to them is not part of their biology."

Back to the deer. "How can you be so sure about that?"

"Well… the main reason is because they all showed the same behavior when savage. Logically speaking, wouldn't you think there would be a bit more variance with that big of a variety?"

"But they're predators! Shouldn't they all be the same vicious hunter deep down?!"

Judy was very close to yelling at him "No, they're not!", but she managed to keep herself from exploding. Instead, she took a deep breath and calmly stated, "One of the affected is an otter. Now, I'm not a history expert, but from what I remember, otters in pre-civilized life preferred to consume aquatic life and were fairly lax overall. So, in answer to your question, no, they're not. Now, would you kindly leave your bigoted remakes to yourself, or if that's not an option, _leave._ "

That seem to shut the deer up and from there the conference proceeded without much problem. Judy managed to talk more about the case itself and in particular how Nick helped before she ran out of time. Bellwether went to wrap things up and Judy went back over to Nick. She was very much relieved. "Whew, that was exhausting. Who knew they ask that many questions?"

Nick chuckled. "Better get used to it, Carrots. I see a lot more of those in your future."

"I not sure if I should take that as a complement or an omen."

"Well, that depends. Will you have help in the future?" With that, he pulled out a filled out sheet. "Yes, you will."

Judy smiled. "It'll be great to see you on the force. Now we just have to hope you survive Police Academy."

Nick's cheerfulness instantly went down a few pegs.


	2. A Little More Work

When Nick had heard about what Police Academy was like from Judy, he wanted to write a first draft of his will. However, it wasn't the whole package that frighten him. Sure, the obstacle courses sounded like something no one should ever go though. The about that was, well, Nick had been though that several times. It's called "being homeless in Zootopia." Sahara Square? A Sunday stroll. Rainforest District? Rather refreshing. Tundra Town? Practically his home turf.

No, what was keeping him up at night was the "enormous criminal" test. To most of the students of the academy, it wasn't that much harder that the courses; just a boxing match with a rhino. However, Nick wasn't most students. Most students were on the larger side; the smallest you see in most classes is a wolf. Nick, meanwhile, was only about 3 feet tall as oppose to his opponent's 8 feet. If his opponent so wanted, Nick would be a pancake in the middle of the ring.

 _And people call me a predator,_ Nick thought to himself while strangling his neck to look his opponent (McHorn, if Nick remembered correctly) in the eyes.

"So, you're the 'Nick' my partner keeps talking about," the rhino said just before the match.

"If your partner's name starts with 'Judy' and ends with 'Hopps,' then yes, I am."

"She wanted me to tell you that you will feel sore for a week after this."

"Well, it's nice to have that vote of confidence." While Nick might seem like his regular snarky self, it was just his way of coping with fear right now. In truth, he felt like changing his pants thrice. This guy was not only massive, he was also a seasoned cop who had years of fighting experience under his belt. Nick couldn't care how much padding his was wearing or how much McHorn was holding back. One punch would knock him out and break something in the process.

So when the match started and McHorn threw the first punch, Nick opted for his usual strategy when confronted with an aggressive mammal: get out of the way! Nick sidestepped the punch (and by "sidestep," I mean he jumped a foot from where he stood) and then found than he had perform an encore of his dodging skills. And another one. And another one. And another one. Soon, Nick was practically running circles around McHorn, desperate for an opening.

McHorn was getting annoyed. "Hey! I know you're probably better at dodging than hitting, but you could at least try to fight me head on!"

Nick thought about what he had just heard for a second, then smirked. "Okay, then. You asked for it."

With that, Nick charged at McHorn, his hand pulled back for the punch. Before Nick could hit him, though, McHorn threw a jab at him, hoping to end the match. However, he was confused when he didn't feel any impact even though he didn't see Nick get out of the way.

It didn't occur to him that Nick had ducked until he saw him climbing onto the rhino's arm.

Acting quickly, McHorn tried to punch him with his other hand. But Nick was agile and was able to jump over the punch, landing on the glove in the process. From that new vantage point, Nick leaped up and uppercut-ed McHorn square in the jaw. The resulting momentum caused McHorn to fall back a bit and then gravity took over from there. McHorn was down for the count.

Nick caught his breath. He couldn't believe it. He had knock the rhino down with just one well-placed punch. This was supposed to be the toughest part of Police Academy, and he just finished it on the first try. Forget anything that comes after, you might as put him on the street right now. He could hear Judy's praise right now. "Wow, Nick! That was amazing! He couldn't even scratch you! And that fake out! I sorry for doubting you're not paying attention, are you?"

Oh, wait. Judy actually was there trying to talk to him.

"Sorry, Carrots. Still high off that victory."

"Yeah, I kind of felt the same after I beat him."

"You were right about one thing, though. My arm's going to be sore for a week after punching him."

* * *

Sometime after the match, Nick and Judy were hanging out in the Academy's courtyard. Nick had changed into the Academy's standardized uniform, consisting of a blue shirt and black shorts. Judy, for her part, was wearing what she was wearing when she first arrived in Zootopia: pale blue shirt, lavender skirt, and black yoga pants.

"So, any particular reason you came to see me?" Nick asked.

"Not really. Just wanted to take a break from the city life, since, well, you know…"

Nick just nodded in response. The effect the Savage Disease (or SD for short) was having on Zootopia was quite well known at this point. Technically speaking, it's unknown if it is a disease in the first place. Investigations into the savage mammals haven't turned up any evidence on what is cause of their savagery. Most mammals just assume it's a disease because of what happens with the only medical team that happened to get a blood sample to investigate.

Namely, one member of the team went savage and killed the other members.

It didn't take long for the media to exploit the resulting paranoia for all it was worth. Soon, every news outlet was talking about what SD was, how to avoid it, if it was a sign for the end times, all that junk. Nick especially hated the articles about how dangerous SD is. The reason for that was simple: they were almost always anti-predator. On paper, it kind-of made sense. History has shown what a predator that only wants to kill can do. However, anyone who actually looks at who is considered a predator will quickly see that many "prey" mammals outclass, or at least match, predators any day. So to see mammals eat that kind of stuff up just sets something off in any predator.

For Nick, though, that wasn't the worst part. No, the worst part for him was that Judy was in that middle of it all. Now, it wasn't that she completely helpless. She was certainly able to outrun and outwit most opponents. At the end of the day, though, she's still a rabbit. Rabbits weren't exactly the most durable creatures on the planet. For the majority of Zootopia, all it would take would to take her down is just one well-placed strike. And she a cop on top of that, so she going to be right up in the action most of the time. To think that Judy could die at any moment made Nick's insides twist and turn like clockwork.

At this point, the silence between the two was becoming too long, so Nick picked the conversation back up.

"So… any more vacation planed in the future?"

"I don't know. I've been thinking about going back to Bunnyburrow for a couple days, but…"

"But what? Afraid of your avalanche of siblings?"

"No. Well, kind of. It's more that… I'm afraid of what my family might think when I come home to essentially run away and hide for a bit."

Nick stared at her with a look of mock-confusion on his face. "Who are you and what have you done with Judy?"

Judy giggled. "Nick, be serious for one."

"Well, I'm not the one who became the first rabbit cop, stood up to her superior, survived an encounter with Mr. Big, found fourteen missing mammals, deals with savage mammals on a daily basis for almost a month now, and is now suddenly afraid that her family will somehow think less of her for taking a vacation."

"…Okay, I'll go. But on one condition."

Nick could tell where this was going. "Let me guess. You want me to go with you."

"Well, yeah. My parents haven't met you yet, and I get the feeling that you meeting them would be great for both sides."

"Hey, I didn't say I was against the idea. I think it's a great idea to meet my future in-laws. So, when are we going?"

"…Promise me you won't make that joke in front of them, and we should be able to go when you have a few days off."


	3. A Little More Love

Nick's break from the academy took a longer time to arrive than expected. As it turned out, the academy didn't recognize most holidays, just the December-based ones. To make up for it, there was an "extra credit" week at the end of the third month, in which cadets who want (or, in many cases, need) more practice can participate in some optional exercise. Otherwise, you were allowed to do anything you want. Naturally, Nick choose this time for the trip.

In the meantime, Nick continued to excel at everything the academy threw at him. The obstacle courses continued to be a walk in the park, the written exams were tedious at worst. Even the sparing matches lost their sting after the first one. Nick now saw them as opportunities to try out different fighting techniques. Overtime, his fighting style became one fitting for a fox: quick in speed and wit. It was similar to Judy's, except that, while Judy's emphasized her mobility, Nick's focused on out-smarting his opponent, with fake-outs, carefully timed dodges, and some… underhanded tactics.

Hey, just because Nick turned over a new leaf doesn't mean he became a sanit.

Nevertheless, Nick made it through the remaining two month and soon the two were on their way to Bunnyburrow. They had to make a quick stop in Downtown Zootopia, though, as Nick needed some more clothes, since he only had one outfit. While Nick did make a lot of money during his time as a con-artist (not to the extent he told Judy, but still a lot), he mostly just sat on it, mainly spending it on food and drink. When Judy found out, she insisted on a shopping spree to fix that. Nick was reluctant, not because he didn't want the clothes (he was getting sick of his green Hawaiian shirt).

No, it was because he didn't want to see Zootopia in its current state. He had stopped looking at news outlets for that very reason, and being in the city in person made him glad he did so. Almost everyone was wearing a surgical mask in an attempt to prevent SD from spreading to them. He even saw a few gas masks mixed in there. There was also an extreme amount of distrust going around. Everyone eyed each other with suspicion, and no one wanted to stay in arm's reach of anyone. Even on the train to Bunnyburrow, everyone was on edge, like they knew a zombie flick was about to break out. There was always some tension in this city, comes with having so many species. But right now the tension was so thick Nick was choking on it.

 _And Judy had to live with this for three months._

"Hey."

Judy turned to face Nick. This was the first time he had talked since they had got on the train. While she couldn't see his face due to the scarf he was wearing ("If I'm going to cover my muzzle, I'm going to do it in style," he had told her), she could tell that he was uncomfortable the entire time. "Something on your mind?"

"Yeah, how did you survive these past months in this riot waiting to happen?"

"Nick, you know I'm not a helpless bunny."

"Hey, just trying have a conversation."

"Well, if you want one thing that helps, I have this thing called 'Savage Spray'-"

"It's just your Fox Spray with a crudely drawn label, isn't it?"

"…Dumb Fox."

"Speaking of which, why did you have that again?"

"Parents wouldn't leave me alone unless I had at least one anti-fox repellant. You should have seen some of other choices. There was a Fox Taser, for Pete's sake!"

"Yeah, because, y'know, foxes are the only animals in the world who can be shocked." They both shared a quick laugh.

Judy continued, "Still, though, I feel really bad whenever I have to use the spray. It just seems so hypocritical of me to talk about equality while wielding 'fox' repellant."

"I don't see why. You're clearly trying to only use it in self-defense and, judging from your shoddy cover-up, have enough self-awareness to try to make it better. In my eyes, it would be okay for you to use that, even on me."

"Nick, don't even joke about that. I would never turn it on you."

"Judy, you are such an optimist. Even when the city is about tear itself apart, you always focus on the bright side of life. That's what I like about you. No, more like… that's what I _love_ about you." Nick then placed his paw on Judy's.

Judy blushed. "Nick, are you saying…?"

"Yes, Judy, yes I am. I know we didn't have the best first impression… Okay, in my case, it was a bad second impression, but still, I've been warming up to ever since. And now, after three months, I feel warm enough to finally say 'I love you!'"

The two stared at each over a few seconds.

"…Yeah, I know that sucked, but please give me some feedback."

The two burst into laughter and kept laughing for a good ten seconds.

"Well, Nick, if you were trying to say 'Will you go out with me?', then yes!"

Judy kissed Nick on the cheek and it was Nick's turn to blush.

"Well, then. Should we consider this our first date?"

"No, let's wait until you graduate first."

"Well, I've made it three months, I can make it three more."

The new couple continued to talk like this for a few minutes until they reached there stop.

"Well, we here. Time to meet your future in-laws."

"Whoa, Judy, slow down. We haven't even reached first base yet."

* * *

A/N: Had to edit this chapter due to formatting problems, so I figured now's as good a time to say that this is all I have for now and for a good while longer. Collage is in full swing now, and I'm not sure when I'll free time to work on this. So to any followers, sorry for the delays, and I'll promise that I'll be active in the summer more.

In the meantime, if you could leave some feedback, that would be great. Reviews were mostly positive on AO3, but a second opinion wouldn't hurt.


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